The Right to be Human

Blog

By Mumbai Smiles

Posted 12 December, 2014

In Awareness

Jaume Sanllorente, President Mumbai Smiles at the Human Rights event in Spain

Human Rights Petition at the Mumbai Smiles office, India

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.”

In his writings Mahatma Gandhi puts together the essence of Human Rights and urges people to stand for what is rightfully theirs’. Human rights unclaimed are as punishable as human rights denied. Having walked 67 years from Independence there have been several times when the human rights of a community have been demeaned and questioned, either by another community or by Government officials. As we face the 66^th Anniversary of the adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by United Nations we have to ask ourselves how often have we lived up to our promises. K G Balakrishnan in his article highlights the several times when the Indian protector of Human Rights have committed the most repulsive acts to violate them.

At Mumbai Smiles, accounting for the justice that every human being deserves we take our small steps to build a brighter tomorrow. Our projects aim at empowering various vulnerable groups of people to know about their rights and have the courage to raise their voice to defend them. One of our projects, SEED revolves around empowering women to guard their status in the society by gaining financial stability and protect their rights. In our Life Skills Empowerment project for Adolescent girls we try to educate them through Life Skills education.

On the occasion of International Human Rights Day on 10^th of December 2014, Mumbai Smiles at its Spain headquarters participated in an event organized by the Tot Raval and laFede.cat Foundation. This is the message left by our President, Jaume Sanllorente: “Today the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 66. In Mumbai Smiles almost 10 years ago we initiated to fight against poverty and in defense of the rights in the slums of Bombay. And we work with the objective that human rights are an effective reality worldwide, 365 days a year. But today we emphasize Article 23 of the Declaration: “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment”